


Unsent Letters

by grandmelon



Series: SR Week Feb. 2016 [5]
Category: Free!
Genre: Crushes, Friendship, M/M, Middle School, Pre-Relationship, SouRin Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-06
Updated: 2016-02-06
Packaged: 2018-05-18 13:17:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5929810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grandmelon/pseuds/grandmelon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Day/Prompt: Day 5/Rock – Middle School/Starting Days</p><p>For every one letter Sousuke receives, he feels he writes a thousand, but none of them are worth sending.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unsent Letters

**Author's Note:**

> LOL I have nothing to say about this except I really can’t wait to watch Starting Days…

Sousuke opened up the mailbox one last time, peering in just to make sure that the letter hadn’t somehow escaped his gaze before. Finding nothing but cold metal, Sousuke sighed and walked back inside. He kicked off his shoes, not bothering to fix them like his mother would have wanted, and trudged back to his room. Sousuke heard his mother’s call but ignored it, throwing himself against the bed as soon as he closed his door. He dug his face into his pillow and let out a disappointed sigh.

 

He turned his head and stared at the basket full of letters sitting on his desk. He hated it. He hated Rin being so far away, but he knew that if he was in that position he’d go for it too. If his English had been better then maybe he would have even tried to go with Rin, but his mother would never let him go. She was rather protective over him since his dad was forced to transfer to Tokyo. It was only supposed to be temporary so they had stayed behind, but after two years and no sign of things changing his mother was ready to move to Tokyo.

 

Sousuke knew he’d have to work hard so that he could go to Tokyo and swim better than anyone else. Rin was working hard so far away, it was only right that he gave it his all too. He’d go to Tokyo and become a great swimmer in order to fulfill their dreams.

 

“Are you busy over there?” Sousuke whispered, asking no one in particular. His eyes went out of focus as he imagined Rin in some foreign land swimming with a bunch of English speaking kids. A creeping anxiety about whether or not Rin had forgotten him started to fill his mind and he tried to push it down.

 

Rin didn’t forget him when he left to Iwatobi, he mused. Even in his heart Sousuke felt that it was a feeble reassurance. Rin was as bright and cheerful as the sun and could make friends with anyone. There was no reason for Rin to remember Sousuke when he was probably finding better friends who were better at swimming.

 

“This is stupid,” Sousuke groaned sitting up and walking over to his desk.

 

He ran his fingers along the lines of the letters from Rin. Sousuke smiled just a bit before he sat down and pulled out a piece of paper and his favorite pen. It was something Rin had brought him back from his first time to Australia. It was a silly pen, with a weird cartoon character on the top. Sousuke didn’t know what it was from but Rin liked it so he thought of Sousuke and they both had a matching set.

 

He's sure Rin lost his already, even though he was so organized he always lost his pens and pencils. Sousuke was pretty sure it was just because he loaned them out to people and forgot to ask for them back. The kids at their school weren’t particularly good about returning things which is why Sousuke never lent out his stuff.

 

The sound of pen on paper isn’t something Sousuke particularly liked, but he thought that it made him feel a little better. Even though his heart would shake at the thought that Rin had forgotten him, or his letter never reached Rin. Even though the stress of waiting for letters and praying that the last one he got wouldn’t be the very last made his heart ache, he came to like writing. He liked putting down all of his thoughts on paper, but he'd never send them.

 

Rin always knew what he wanted to say anyways.

 

_Gou tells me you’re not talking to her much either. Did you get stuck? You can always talk to me about it._

_Today I swam against Iwatobi, I didn’t see your friends. Maybe they were sick, they should take better care of themselves._

_Hey Rin, is it bothersome to receive letters from me? You must be too busy to write back, huh?_

_I miss you._

_Don’t forget about me, okay?_

Every time Sousuke wrote something unexplainable would come out. Something he didn’t want to be said. Something that wasn’t worth telling Rin. He used to ball them up and throw them out, but that never worked. Still, he couldn’t send things like that to Rin. He didn’t want to be bother, and he didn’t want to guilt is friend into writing him back.

 

Sousuke groaned in frustration and laid his head down against the letter. It wasn’t good enough to send Rin. He had to write something encouraging, but didn’t make him worried. Something that would reassure Rin that everything would work out without sounding like he thought something was wrong. He got up and pulled a flat box out from under his bed. He lifted the lid and tossed in the useless paper, too sappy and depressing to send to Rin.

 

The words he wanted to say were too hard to explain in paper and ink. Besides, if he sent something stupid like asking when they’d see each other again he knew exactly what Rin would say. Rin would tell him he was being stupid. Rin would tell him that he shouldn’t be wasting time writing letters and waiting for Rin, because they’d meet again.

 

Sousuke put everything away and went downstairs to ask his mother if he could go to the pool.

 

It had already been three months since he received Rin’s last letter, so he decided he would stop wasting time on them. Waiting anxiously for the next time Rin writes him wasn’t productive anyways, and Rin probably wouldn’t respond even if Sousuke sent more. There was just one place left to tell him how he felt, at the world stage.

 

He had no time to lose.

**Author's Note:**

> [my tumblr](http://melonmachinery.tumblr.com)


End file.
